Rejections

While we are proud of our publications, paper rejections are part of being a scientist. On average, the research papers (i.e. without review articles) in this publication list were rejected 1.0 times before they were published. One paper was rejected 6 times before it was published in PLoS One. The probability that a paper was rejected at least once was 47.5%. This probability did not decrease over time, suggesting no improvement in the ability to get papers accepted at the first attempt. Another way of looking at it is that my (C. G.) and my co-workers tendency to take risks when choosing journals has remained constant over the years. The journal responsible for most rejections (6) is Nature, which also shows our unwavering optimism...